Published 1:30 pm, Monday, April 11, 2011

This year’s District 23-5A soccer MVP awards could not have gone to two players with much different backgrounds in high school soccer.

Austin senior Kelsey Zamora earned the award for the second straight season.

Kempner’s Jose Vilche, on the other hand, wasn’t even on the varsity team last year.

Both of them were perhaps the biggest part of their teams.

Zamora scored 29 goals to lead Austin in that category for the second season in a row. She also had 13 assists. During a year in which the Lady Bulldogs suffered a long string of injuries, Zamora was a rare constant on the field.

The University of Houston signee helped Austin complete its fourth straight undefeated district season. The Lady Bulldogs also played into the third round of the Region III-5A playoffs.

"She was a game changer, and I think the other coaches in the district saw that as well," Austin coach Mike Agiannidis said. "You never knew with her. She could score from crazy angles, and all she needed was just a little bit of space."

Vilche scored only one goal this season, but his teammates voted him as Kempner’s MVP anyway.

Vilche played center midfielder in the Cougars' 4-3-3 formation. Instead of scoring goals, he was the one who made sure the ball got to the players who did score the goals.

His only goal came in a blowout victory over Marshall. The game was well in hand in the second half when the Cougars started to look for him with every opportunity so he could get a goal of his own.

"He got multiple chances and he finally got one in," Kempner coach William Miller said. "We celebrated like we had just won the championship."

Though he was on the varsity for the first time this season, his teammates voted him as their captain. They did the same when he was on the junior varsity team last year.

A big group of Kempner players moved from junior varsity to varsity this season and helped the Cougars win their first district championship - ending Clements’ run of nine in a row in the process.

Vilche was the biggest reason why.

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"I underestimated him the last couple of years," Miller said. "His teammates always had confidence in him. They knew how valuable he was."